Iceland marketing campaign pokes fun at Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse in tourism advertising
A new Icelandic tourism marketing campaign targets Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, mocking his recent video announcement of his company’s name change to Meta.
The video, posted by Inspired by Iceland, a public-private entity that promotes Iceland and its products, featured a Zuckerberg lookalike named “Zack Mossbergsson” and identified as Iceland’s visionary leader.
Throughout the parody, Mossbergsson pokes fun at Zuckerberg’s infamous stiffness.
“Hello and welcome to this very natural setting,” Mossbergsson says to the camera.
“Today I want to talk about a revolutionary approach to connecting our world without being super weird.”
“Some said it was not possible. Some said it was out of reach. For them, we say it’s already there. Seriously. Look, it’s right here,” he adds, pointing out the window at a snowy Icelandic landscape.
Mossbergsson goes on to introduce the “Icelandverse,” which is, as he describes it, “enhanced real reality without ridiculous headsets,” — a clear dig into Zuckerberg’s ambitions for a so-called metaverse virtual reality world.
“It’s completely immersive with wet water,” Mossbergsson continues, adding that “Icelandverse” comes with “skies you can see with your eyeballs.”
“The Icelandverse is unlike any other open-world experience with the ‘-verse’ in its name, because it’s real. Plus, you don’t need a fun VR headset,” reads the YouTube video caption.
Zuckerberg responded to the video on Facebook, taking it in stride.
“Amazing. Got to take a trip to the Icelandverse soon. Glad you’re wearing sunscreen too,” he said. noted, referring to a scene in the video in which Mossbergsson’s face is covered in sunscreen, mimicking an embarrassing incident for Zuckerberg last year.
The video had racked up over 274,000 views on YouTube by late Friday.
“Metaverse” has become a major talking point in corporate America since Facebook announced its name change last month, with companies from Nike and Disney to dating app Bumble talking about how they will capitalize on what some believe to be the next evolution of the Internet.
The term, coined in the 1992 science fiction book “Snow Crash,” refers to next-generation internet access via augmented and virtual reality hardware.
In a demo shown by Zuckerberg last month, one user wearing headphones walked the streets of ancient Rome, while another attended a virtual reality rock concert and afterparty.
Zuckerberg said the company plans to spend billions of dollars developing the metaverse, and added that he hopes one billion people will join the virtual world over the next ten years. Facebook’s commodity advertising dollars will supplement the development of the augmented reality project, which the company says won’t pay off for years.
Facebook representatives did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment on the “Icelandverse” video.
